I was driving past the Hanalei the other day and noticed the sign mentioned the New Look and New Menu for the Islands room, so I ran in for a quick peek. Wow.

Due to all the info here when they closed, the new look wasn't a surprise, but it was still sad to see. The good news is that at least some of the Tiki railings are still in there. The bad news is not much else is. It's just white walls and ceiling now; very stark, not much actual 'decor' at all, at least comparatively speaking. They're open for dinner nightly now, so it looks like it'll probably remain as-is. They're also advertising patio dining, on that little area outside the glass doors/windows on the pool side of the room. But their amazing Coconut Chicken isn't on the menu anymore.

The Dragon room is still separated off with walls at this point and does still have the doors, but it looks like there will probably be some kind of walk-up service going in there (I think someone here mentioned it might become a coffee counter?) The floor in there is still ripped up and it looks like there's a counter and chilled beverage case in place. Fortunately the Tiki pond/waterfall area outside the Dragon room is still there.

Unfortunately I was only able to get a rotten-quality photo, but here goes:

I understand their wanting to make the room larger and brighter. It's larger and brighter now. But it's a design disaster; with Hawaiiana experiencing a rebirth (let alone Tiki) why not dress the place up like a really ritzy Hawaiian Hotel? That's what the place is supposed to be, right??? Or go for a Classy French Polynesia look? Or just a nice subdued color scheme, some exotic plants, and hang some cool OA masks on the wall? It could look exotic and corporate-expensive at the same time.

Instead, it looks like a rental company did the interior design! If I find the guy or gal who did this, I'm shoving his/her/its head in a can of fresh beige paint!

It's as though they didn't want to change the decor, just remove it. I don't know if they might be planning to add more plants and decorations to make it somewhat 'tropical' (which would be a good idea). They are open for business and serving food, though, so it doesn't seem likely that there would be anything major coming. It's actually not even beige, that's just my bad picture. Beige would've been more colorful - it's very WHITE. Definitely brighter, but also completely bland. The color and decoration is so sparse right now that it really lacks any kind of character at all.